For many years there have been numerous attempts to develop trailers for a variety of applications that are physically and functionally easier to load and unload. Such applications include, without limitation, trailers for snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles ("ATV'S"), tractors, golf carts, lawn and garden equipment, horses and other livestock. The difficulty in loading and unloading the various trailers increases as the weight and length of the load increases, especially when physical labor is required.
Trailers adapted for transporting snowmobiles are illustrative of some of the difficulties and problems incurred in loading and unloading trailers, especially if two or more snowmobiles are involved. The average snowmobile weighs in excess of 400 pounds, more than the average person can lift or handle. A typical trailer for transporting one or two snowmobiles is a single bed trailer, which must be loaded and unloaded from its rear end, such as the multipurpose trailer in Salamander, U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,351.
Generally, to place the load on the trailer, one must traverse the gap between the ground and the trailer and then move the load forward so that the trailer can be placed into the transport position. This is preferably done by driving the load onto the trailer, but in some cases is done by physical labor. If the center of gravity of the load is placed too far forward, the platform or bed will be abruptly rocked forward and the second snowmobile cannot be loaded.
The difficulty in loading the trailer substantially increases when two units are present, such as two snowmobiles. The loading of the first snowmobile must not place the weight far enough forward to tilt the platform bed into the transport position so the second snowmobile cannot be loaded. The loading of the second snowmobile must be accomplished by driving the second snowmobile onto the tilted platform and then moving the two snowmobiles forward to tilt the entire load into the transport position.
In order to load (and unload) many trailers, the towbar must be unhitched from the tow-vehicle and the trailer manually tilted back. If some form of a detachable ramp is not used, there is generally an unacceptable gap between the trailer and the ground which must be traversed during the loading and unloading process. In other cases, separate ramp means must be brought along and set up to load and unload the trailer, adding to the weight of the trailer and to the required physical labor and time.
Unloading presents similar problems since unloading generally must be accomplished in a reverse manner and at the rear end of the trailer. In the case of snowmobiles, unloading is much more difficult because most snowmobiles do not have a reverse mechanism and unloading must therefore be accomplished manually.
Unloading on the rear side of the trailer is likewise more difficult in the application of a horse or other livestock trailer and involves increased safety risks to both the livestock and to the person unloading the livestock.
The many industry attempts to ease the loading and unloading process and the problems and difficulties associated therewith have heretofore not sufficiently done so, and some have in fact created additional problems. Such attempts have included complex designs and many additional parts and hence additional cost and weight that they can only be justified for very heavy and large loads.
Other past industry efforts have included platform beds that are rotated or pivoted to allow the loads to be driven forward off the trailer. These attempts generally had an unacceptably abrupt drop-off from the trailer to the ground, resulted in various safety problems while in transit and did not sufficiently reduce the problems and difficulties.
Attempts have also been made to utilize two side-by-side platform beds that tilted downward at generally only the rear end. Although these trailers allowed independent loading of two loads from the rear end, the loads still had to be unloaded in the opposite direction back down the rear end, and had the problems associated therewith.
One reason prior attempts have failed to achieve a bed that tilts sufficiently downward at both ends is that they have not configured the frame means so that it is releaseably suspended from the towbar means or tongue, which allows the frame and consequently the platform bed(s) to be tilted downward at the front end. This feature of this invention allows the load to be loaded or unloaded at either the front end or the rear end of the platform bed(s).
This invention has greatly reduced the problems and difficulties associated with loading and unloading trailers by providing a trailer with a platform means which tilts downward at both the front end and the rear end, and therefore serves as both the platform means and the ramp means. This feature is accomplished by releaseably suspending the frame means from the towbar.
This invention has also greatly reduced the labor requirements and safety problems associated with some trailers by eliminating the need to unhitch and remove the trailer from the tow vehicle during loading and unloading. This invention accomplishes this by providing for a means to tilt the platform bed to serve as the ramp means in either direction and with a sufficiently long towbar means to yield the necessary clearance to unload without interference from the tow vehicle.
This invention has greatly reduced or eliminated the safety and other problems related to unloading on the same side the trailer was loaded and allows each load to be independently loaded in the forward direction and independently unloaded in the forward direction. In the horse trailer application, this invention allows the person to walk the horse off the front end of the trailer instead of backing it off the rear end, thereby reducing the safety risk to animal and the person. In the snowmobile trailer application, this invention allows the operator to drive the snowmobile on either the front end or the rear end of the trailer to load it and to then drive it off the other opposite end to unload.
This invention has also eliminated the need for a separate ramp means by utilizing the platform means as the ramp means, and has achieved a relatively low slope for the ramp means.
This invention has greatly reduced the problem associated with balancing the load during loading and unloading of two or more units by also providing for two or more platform means, which allows independent loading and unloading of more than one load.
This invention is distinguished from prior art individually or any combination thereof by providing an apparatus which eliminates the problems relating to all prior art as discussed more fully herein.